Rolf Stange P.O. Boks 15 9171 Longyearbyen Email: [email protected] Websites (English): www.spitsbergen-svalbard.com www.jan-mayen.com www.antarctic.eu

Please note: I am travelling a lot so it may be difficult to get hold of me (this is where there is no phone number here). E-mail is my preferred channel if you want to get in touch – I will reply as soon as I can. Which may sometimes take a few days or even weeks. Thank you for your understanding!

Longyearbyen, April 2019

Rolf Stange – Fact sheet (biography & professional career)

• Born in 1973, Unna (Germany). • 1993: diploma from German secondary school, 1993-94 civilian service as first aid instructor for the German Red Cross. • 1993 and following years first independent travels in Norway and Sweden initially by bicycle, later hiking. • From 1995 I studed geography in Münster and from 1996 in Bonn (Germany). • 1997: first summer season in Spitsbergen, guiding small groups on hiking tours. I continued this as a summer job until 1999. • 2000: first arctic summer season as guide / lecturer on small, ice-strengthened expedition ships in Spitsbergen. Since then, I have spent every northern summer in the Arctic, with a focus on Spitsbergen, my second home. • 2000: field work within geomorphology in the Lauca National Park in the Altiplano of northern Chile, an area which I chose as a geographical contrast from the Arctic. • 2001 degree in geography, university Bonn. • 2001: starting my work as an author and independent publisher with the first early edition of „Steine und Eis“. • 2002: „Steine und Eis“ translated in English as „Rocks and Ice“ • 2001/02 first season as guide/lecturer in Antarctica on small, ice-strengthened expedition cruise ships, thus turning this kind of work into a profession covering large parts of the year for many years to come. • Since 2003, I have worked mainly as expedition leader, being the leader of a team of guide/lecturers and responsible for adjusting the itinerary to local conditions and general management of passenger activities such as landings, lecturers etc. • 2004, Two expedition cruises to Franz Josef Land (Russian Arctic) on the icebreaker Kapitan Dranitsyn and two cruises in west Greenland up to Qaanaaq and Siorapaluk, enlarging the geographical range of my knowledge and experience. • 2004, I published my second book „Wintertour in Ostgrönland“, soon translated into English as „East Greenland in Winter“, narrating a ski expedition in East Greenland in a rather humorous way. • 2005 first edition of „Jan Mayen: Natur und Geschichte des Außenpostens im Nordatlantik“, my book about Jan Mayen (German only, English and Norwegian translations are planned). • 2006: I lived 3 months in Ittoqqortoormiit (Scoresbysund), east Greenland and spent most of the time dog-sledging on my own. • 2006: I started my German website www.spitzbergen.de, which soon got its English equivalent www.spitsbergen-svalbard.com. Until now (2019), these websites hav got as many as 800 sub-pages and about 1200 blog-entries (general news concerning Spitsbergen and my travel blog). Developing these websites has been a key part of my work since then. • In 2007, the first German edition of my Spitsbergen guidebook came out: „Spitzbergen – Svalbard“. The book became soon a standard reference. This was a very important step for me as a polar writer and publisher. • In 2007, I made the first voyages on sailing ships in Spitsbergen, discovering a new passion and a new quality of polar travelling. • In 2008, „Spitsbergen-Svalbard“ came out, the first English edition of my Spitsbergen guidebook, which also soon became a standard book for both tourists and international guides, who often refer to it as the „Spitsbergen-bible“. In the same year, I published „Scoresbysund Hot Dogs“, a humouristic narration of my dog-sledging adventures from east Greenland in 2006. • In September 2009, I did my first own charter of a sailing boat voyage in Spitsbergen with the two-mast schooner Noorderlicht in cooperation with the Geographische Reisegesellschaft („Geographical travelling society“) in Münster, Germany. This was an important step in becoming more independent in my work as an expedition leader, being able to run trips as I thought and still think they should be done. The cooperation with the Geographische Reisegesellschaft is an important cornerstone of my professional activities until today. • 2010, expedition to Newtontoppen: 4 weeks with ski, tent and pulk together with my tour comrade Matthias Kopp to Newtontoppen, Spitsbergen’s highest mountain (1713 m), which we reached and ascended successfully. • 2010, expedition Bear Island: becoming the first independent traveller to do solo trekking around and all over the southernmost outpost of Svalbard. • In 2010, I established the websites www.jan-mayen.de (German) and www.jan- mayen.com (english) as info and photo platforms for people enthusiastic about remote arctic islands. • In 2010, I joined the sailing ship (3 mast barkentine) SV Antigua during her second season in Spitsbergen. She soon became a focus of my work as expedition leader in Spitsbergen and north Norway. • In 2010, I joined film maker Kai Schubert (free producer, associated with Bayrischer Rundfunk in Germany, for a 4 week expedition on SY Arctica I in northern Svalbard to film polar bears, which we did with good success. We also tried to find further traces of the missing members of the desastrous German Schröder-Stranz-Expedition on Nordaustland, but without success. • From 2010, I took my publishing business a step further by establishing a shipping department run by an independent person. • In 2011, I published my first photo book „Spitsbergen – Cold Beauty“ (photo book with very short text in German, Englisch, Dutch and Norwegian). • In 2011 I edited the book „Grönlandflora“ (German, authored by Elke Lindner, Hagen Held and Ludwig Martins). • In 2011, I chartered SV Antigua in Spitsbergen together with the Geographische Reisegesellschaft for the first time. We have continued and widened this collaboration until today. • 2011: third updated edition of my German guidebook „Spitzbergen – Svalbard“. • In 2012, I moved my German private and business address from Rostock to Dresden • In 2012, we did two charter trips on SV Antigua. Additionally, I did, as every year, a couple of trips as freelance expedition leader on contract basis, making sure I could and can enjoy a long sailing season during the arctic summer. • In 2012, also the third updated English edition of my guidebook „Spitsbergen – Svalbard“ came out. • 2012 translation of „The Mists of Time“, a novel by James McQuilken that narrates the life of a Wandering albatross, to support the Habitat Restoration Project of the South Georgia Habitat. German title: „Die Nebel der Zeit“. • January / February 2013 first semi-circumnavigation of Antarctica from Ushuaia to New Zealand, visiting the Ross Sea. An important step for my knowledge and experience as a guide and expedition leader in Antarctica. At this time I started work on a guidebook about Antarctica and my polar panorama project, documenting parts of the Antarctic and the Arctic (Spitsbergen, Jan Mayen) with 360 degree panorama photography and making these areas accessible through my websites. • In 2013, I produced my first Spitsbergen-calendar. This has since been an annual project. • 2013: fourth updated version of the Spitsbergen-guidebook „Spitzbergen – Svalbard“ (German). • November 2013: visit to the remote South Sandwich Islands in the south Atlantic, further expanding my geographical knowledge and experience as an expedition leader in Antarctica to rarely visited places. • 2014 marriage. • In 2014, we bought a flat in Longyearbyen. This turned out to be a case of great luck, as the housing market started to become very difficult soon thereafter and it still is at the time of writing. • 2014 first expedition to Jan Mayen out of a series of four. I started to photo- document Jan Mayen as comprehensively as possible. The first attempt to climb mount Beerenberg is aborted due to unfavourable weather changes. • First voyage „advanced Spitsbergen“ with SY Arctica II, focussing even more on remote parts of the Spitsbergen archipelago, exploring hidden places, expanding my geographical knowledge and my photo archive to the last detail possible. • 2015 second semi-circumnavigation of Antarctica from Ushuaia to New Zealand, visiting the Ross Sea. • 2015 fifth, comprehensively updated edition of my Spitsbergen-guidebook „Spitzbergen – Svalbard“ (German). • 2015 second expedition to Jan Mayen. I continued to photograph various places on Jan Mayeen. Successful ascent of Beerenberg (2277 metres, highest mountain on Jan Mayen, northermost active volcano on Earth above sea level). • 2016 third expedition to Jan Mayen. Continuing my photo-documentation of Jan Mayen and crossing the southern part of Jan Mayen to the south cape. • 2017 third semi-circumnavigation of Antarctica (New Zealand-Ushuaia), this time as expedition leader. • 2017 fourth and for the time being last expedition to Jan Mayen, completing my own photo-documentation of the island including filling some final gaps such as the lava caves on Beerenberg. • 2017 fourth edition of my English guidebook „Spitsbergen – Svalbard“ with comprehensive updates. • 2017 first Norwegian edition of my Spitsbergen guidebook: „Svalbard – Norge nærmest Nordpolen.“ • 2017 first edition of „Arktische Weihnachten“, a compilation of arctic Christmas stories and adventures. Authors: Rolf Stange (introductory texts, choice of historical texts) and Norbert Wachter (illustrations). • 2017 editing the monochrome photobook „Spitzbergen – Svalbard“, authored by Nadine Hugo. • 2018 first voyages to Antarctica and Patagonia on a sailing boat (both 25 days long, both with SY Anne-Margaretha). Milestones for my regional knowledge and my experience as expedition leader in Antarctica. • 2018 6th updated edition of my Spitsbergen-guidebook „Spitzbergen – Svalbard“ (German). • 2018 sechste aktualisierte Auflage des Spitzbergen-Reiseführers „Spitzbergen- Svalbard“. • In early 2019 I published my photo book „Aerial Arctic“, featuring drone photography of Spitsbergen and Jan Mayen. • In April 2019, the Norwegian version of my Spitsbergen-website goes online under the domain www.spitsbergen-svalbard.no.